Update: Alaskan Brown Bears

July 6, 2018

I finished re-coloring the bears this afternoon. Here are the before and after photos:

Actually this is not completely a “before” picture, the bears are partially finished. Note the contrast between the head and back on the bear on all fours.

Finished re-coloration

I also removed the Great Plains Skink from the Mule Deer diorama. Surprisingly, it is not a cast, but a dried specimen in good shape-except for the fading. I checked out an alcohol specimen from our collection. Color is gone in the alcohol specimen, but the patterns are still evident and it is significantly darker than the diorama specimen. I will check field guides and online photos before I start to paint.

Great Plains Skinks: the one on top is from the diorama. The one on the bottom is an alcohol specimen from the Peabody collection.

I spent more time working on the tie-in with the crowberry ground cover. I sprayed more white acrylic paint over the ground cover and then mixed oil paint (cad red light, cad yellow med, yellow ochre, and white). The color is close, but I still need to modify it for a seamless illusion from three dimensions to the 2D background painting.